Goodfellas (1990)

Genre: Crime/Action/Drama/Biography

Starring: Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco, Paul Sorvino

Bad-ass gangster movies are nothing new to our cinemas but making a good movie is difficult. Right after the world witnessed The Godfather and its two follow up movies, we were blessed with Goodfellas. The movie is Martin Scoresse's attempt at showcasing the fall of the Lucchese crime family and the infamous Lufthansa heist that was carried out by the organisation. As a young boy, Henry Hill (Liotta) loved the way the mob used to work and always dreamt of being a gangster. He eventually came under the wing of Paul Cicero (Sorvino) and worked under James Conway (De Niro) who was the new rising star in the family and boy to watch out for. Along with Tommy DeVito (Pesci), Henry grew up in the family and learnt the tricks of stealing, smuggling, murder and crime and enjoyed all the money and women that came with it. The movie is a simple narration of Henry, Tommy and James with a focus on Henry and his personal life and all that he experienced as a gangster. A very simple movie that gets to the point of things without beating around the bush but at the same time stresses on the details to make sure that the outcome is as accurate as possible to reality. The movie is classified as one of the finest crime movies made and that comes for a reason. The performances are near life-like and you might forget that they are actors after all and not the actual individual. The only drawback was the lack of an objective in the movie which eventually led to a non-climax story-telling format.The movie is a simple narration of events and does not seem to build up to something. Having said that, do not expect anything less than pure crime and true extravagance.

Thumbs up: Fabulous acting and feels very realistic

Thumbs down: Lacks the feeling of suspense or climax

Rating: 8.5/10

Employee of the Month (2004)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Comedy

Starring: Matt Dillon, Steve Zahn, Christina Applegate, Andrea Bendewald

A hard-working and punctual bank employee, David Walsh (Dillon) is pretty sure that he would be named the Employee of the Month in the upcoming review. It thus comes to him as a rude shock when he learns that instead of being appreciated, he is fired altogether. His frustration that his hard work did not yield him a career boost, along with the fact that his wife, Sara (Applegate), finding out that he is sleeping with her best friend Wendy (Bendenwald) and confronts him on the same day, leads him to take some tough decisions. His best friend, Jack (Zahn) is his only source of comfort and suddenly David's life has come to a standstill with no job and no family. A very different movie and a very different twist to it that you never expected. Yes, the climax is the talk of the entire movie and is the only thing to watch out for. Sadly, although the movie introduces an interesting twist, it is the execution of this very twist that also makes this movie a drab watch. It becomes a little predictable and not very interesting after a while. The movie had scope to be far better but fell flat on it's face in an attempt at being different.

Thumbs up: Decent twist

Thumbs down: Bad plot execution and predictable towards the end

Rating: 5.8/10

Yamla Pagla Deewana 2 (2013)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance

Starring: Dharmendra, Bobby Deol, Sunny Deol, Neha Sharma, Kristina Akheeva, Annu Kapoor, Anupam Kher, Johnny Lever, Aidan Cook

With the Deol family not quite getting movie offers as they would have liked, Dharmendra and his two sons decide to do something in-house. The first movie, Yamla Pagla Deewana was not the least bit funny, quite atrocious and can be deleted from your memory almost instantly. Despite that, the movie was 'weirdly entertaining' to quite a few people which motivated the Deol family to make a part 2. Dharam Singh Dhillon (Dharmendra) and his son Gajodhar (Bobby Deol) are 2 con artists who do a lot of random acts to swindle people off their money. Dharam's second son, Paramveer (Sunny Deol) is living in London, UK and is a contrast to his father and brother. He lives an honest life and believes in helping society. Dharam frequently preaches as Yamla Baba and uses his followers' donation money for his own greed. Yograj Khanna, a British multi-millionaire, believes in Yamla Baba and comes for his blessings. Yamla Baba learns of Yograj's unmarried daughter and he tries to set up a con where Gajodhar can get married to her and eventually get a share of Khanna's fortunes. When they travel to London whilst doing their con, they realise that Paramveer and Yograj and friends and Paramveer wants to come in-between Dharam and Gajodhar's and ensure it does not work out. A very random movie with many elements that are present in it for no rhyme or reason and simply do not add up to the story. Try to remove logic in this movie and you would be punished heavily with a massive headache.

Thumbs up: I'm trying very hard to figure this one

Thumbs down: Outrageous story, un-laughable humour

Rating: 4.1/10

Vacation! (2010)

Genre: Adventure/Drama/Crime

Starring: Trieste Kelly Dunn, Lydia Hyslop, Maggie Ross, Melodie Sisk, Michael Abbott Jr.

Everyone has some or the other problem in life, but what sets us apart is how each and every one of us deals with these problems. Donna (Dunn), Lorelei (Hyslop), Sugar (Ross) and Dee-dee (Sisk), 4 middle-aged women each having some complaint with life, decide to go on a weeks vacation to the beach to get away from it all and maybe even resolve them. They are either sexually unsatisfied, have relationship issues, cannot get over their past, drug abuse or some family conflict and they hope that this trip would help them out. The vacation goes just fine when catastrophe strikes right in the middle of the week. A catastrophe that turns all their lives around and changes how almost everything happens. The movie resonates of David Lynch, although it is still very far from his kind of movies, and hence falls in the love or hate category. If movies with hidden meanings, psychological metaphors and the usual jazz that the average person fails to understand is your cup of tea, then the movie might be acceptable. On all other fronts it might get a bit drab and boring.

Thumbs up: Great performances

Thumbs down: Not to every ones liking

Rating: 5.7/10

The Hangover Part III (2013)

Genre: Comedy/Adventure/Crime/Drama

Starring: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha, Ken Jeong, John Goodman

When the first Hangover movie came out, the audience was flabbergasted and the movie went down in history as being an epic comedy. The second movie tried to redo the first movie in a different setting and got heavily criticized for being a remake of the first. In a bid to be different, the producers have decided to throw away the first two movies' templates and do something completely different. Alan (Galifianakis) has gone far more berserk and eccentric than before, to the extent that Phil (Cooper), Stu (Helms) and Doug (Bartha) want to send Alan away for therapy. What happens next? Doug gets kidnapped, a criminal by the name Marshall (Goodman) wants the trio to track down and find Chow (Jeong) else Doug dies. Sadly though, in a bid to be different, the movie ended by being a bit too different to the extent that there really is no 'hangover' in the movie, which essentially was the crux of the entire series. I guess you can be different but yet retain your original charm, being different does not mean going back to the drawing board from scratch. Movie is disappointing and can be called as the worst Hangover movie ever. In isolation, the movie is like any other decent comedy and fails on outright humour.

Thumbs up: Zach Galifianakis for being the only comedy aspect and an even bigger eccentric

Thumbs down: Missed everything from the original movies

Rating: 6.3/10

Despicable Me 2 (2013)

Genre: Animation/Comedy/Crime/Adventure/Action

Starring (voice): Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Benjamin Bratt, Miranda Cosgrove, Russell Brand, Elsie Kate Fisher, Dana Gaier

The first movie was widely acclaimed for its relevant humour, animation that appeals to a different audience and of course, the minions. With such a big burden on it's head, this movie had a lot to live up to and like any other sequel it is always difficult to recreate the first magic. Gru (Carell) has finally given up on being a villain and now has started focusing his resources on making jelly and jams. He lives with his three adopted daughters, Margo (Cosgrove), Edith (Gaier) and Agnes (Fisher) and all of them are happy with their lives. A laboratory gets stolen from the arctic circle and nobody has any idea who did it or why. Agent Lucy Wilde (Wiig) from the Anti-Villain League, recruits Gru to help them identify the villain by thinking like one and be on the good side for a change. A big evolution in the movie is the character of Gru who has turned good from being bad. That has not only not made him despicable but also affected the movies humour content to some extent. Yes, the movie fails to live up to the standards of the first movie but having said that, it is not exactly a bad watch. You would get more than one occasion to laugh heartily but maybe not as much as the first one. Since the audience is more or less familiar with what Gru is, there is nothing appealing about him anymore and in that sense, the movie lacks innovation. Great movie to watch but could have been far better.

Thumbs up: Minions and they can still make you laugh

Thumbs down: Nothing new to offer

Rating: 7.4/10

American Wedding (2003)

Genre: Comedy/Drama

Starring: Jason Biggs, Sean William Scott, Alyson Hannigan, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Eugene Levy, January Jones, Eric Allan Kramer

The third part to the American Pie series sees Jim (Biggs) asking Michelle (Hannigan) to marry her and become his life partner through thick and thin. With the wedding set in place, Jim and his friends, Finch (Thomas), Stiffler (William Scott) and Kevin (Nicholas) start planning for the wedding. Jim and Michelle absolutely do not want Stiffler at the wedding but simply because he excels at some things that the others do not, they are compelled to let him come. Cadence (Jones), Michelle's sister, is coming to the wedding and Finch and Stiffler both try to get inside her pants through their own means and strategy. The story of the movie is pretty plain and straight forward and it is the underlying stories and jokes that is the actual movie to watch out for. The movie is still very typically American Pie in a lot of places but at the same time, does not seem to offer anything different from what the previous two movies showed us. Yes, it is funny and you would have a good time watching it with your friends but if it is something different that you expect, then the movie disappoints greatly.

Thumbs up: Decent humour to laugh at

Thumbs down: Not a big improvement over the last few movies

Rating: 6.5/10